Family meals and good bread

Sharing meals with friends and family, engaging in lively conversation and playing a game of Quiddler to celebrate the special events and the everyday of life are of highest priority in our home.  I love to find a new food to introduce to our menus, and a crusty sourdough bread recipe from a New York Times article is my new favorite.  Jim Lahey, of Sullivan Street Bakery, has developed an amazing no-knead sourdough bread. The crust comes out beautifully golden brown, and crisp with a moist, chewy complex flavored interior.  I take it out of the oven to a cooling rack, let it rest just a few moments before slicing, then take it to the table with fresh sweet salted butter and lots of big cotton dinner napkins. It's a beautiful accompaniment to a lunchtime salad, or soup and cheese at supper time.  I am a big fan of King Arthur bread flour and I use my Calphalon paella pan and follow the timing recommended in the recipe.  The clear glass lid of this pan allows me to watch as the bread develop its beautiful crust, and adds one more little bit of joy to the whole process. 
Here's a link to the recipe: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?_r=0
Good baking and good eating to you!

the balm of beauty beheld

Work on our mountain home continues and I celebrate the small victories.  The living room walls have been glazed and over-painted with a classic acanthus leaf motif echoing the tapestry draperies, which have finally been hung.  Little by little our collection of art is being unpacked and moved about the house, making it feel more and more like our home.  

I caught our green-eyed silvery furred girl, Perle, on the arm of the loveseat looking to see if anyone was watching her move towards the window sill.  She grows sweeter with every day that passes and we celebrate not only her physical beauty (she is a Norwegian Forest Cat) but the joy she brings to our every day. I thank God for the beauty that surrounds me and elevates the everyday to the sublime.

Life and Art

This has been a busy time, getting a one-person show ready to hang at the same time we continue to work on renovations for our mountain home.  The living spaces are beginning to glow with the improvements we have made, and I look forward to the day when we unpack our art and books and lamps and the house really lives like home.  The kitchen is shaping up just as I dreamed - a place to create meals to nurture our friends and family that is efficient and beautiful.  I am not a "shiny spankin' new" sort of a girl, so the original bead board cabinets were restored, together with all the original hinges and thumb latches and knobs.  The porcelain over cast iron farm sink with drainboards was restored and is a joy to work at with her new, albeit Victorian in style, single handle faucet.  We took the doors off one cabinet, giving us 6 shelves to feature the things we use most often, and most enjoy looking at.  The interior is painted a warm chocolate brown and is a striking foil for our collection of diner china.  Some day I will tell you the story of our collection of Syracuse China...

The biggest challenge I faced was making art in a home where the studio has not yet been unpacked. It was an exercise in adaptability.  My love placed a 4 ft by 8 ft sheet of 3/4 inch plywood over the base of our dining room table and viola! a studio.  I continue to be amazed and intrigued to see the ways my paintings are evolving.  There is a subtle change that I can see in this collection of 10 paintings - sharper contrasts and bolder lines.  I see it especially in the painting above, and the one I posted on the 5th of April.  You can visit my etsy shop  to see the virtual collection. The exhibit hangs from April 6th through April 30th at the Madeleine Gallery at LaPorte Jewelers, 645 Harrisburg Avenue, Lancaster, PA 17601. Here's the link to my shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/composegrace

Light of Day

Opening with First Friday, April 6th and hanging until April 30th, a collection of 10 recent paintings will be featured in the Madeleine Gallery at LaPorte Jewelry, 645 Harrisburg Avenue, Lancaster, PA.  A special treat at the reception (besides the fabulous refreshments) will be an appearance by the Prima Sisters.  Check out the link to the LaPorte Jewelers blog:

http://laportejewelers.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/art-hor-doeuvres-and-entertainment/

LaPorte Jewelers hours are M-T 10 to 6, F 10 to 8, S 10 - 6.   You're welcome to visit the gallery anytime during business hours if you can't make it to the First Friday reception. 

The paintings are encaustic on hardwood panels. They explore and capture the subtleties of light from the break of dawn to moonlight. The collection is featured in my etsy shop in the 'LaPorte exhibit' section.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/composegrace

Celebrate Life

 

I am blessed to be the youngest of three girls born to Boots and Paul Johnson in small town Pennsylvania in the 1950's.  The little Johnson girls are middle-aged women now who lost our Mom to a fall three summers ago.  Last evening we gathered with our husbands and father to celebrate Dad's 82nd birthday.  The occasion was especially sweet following a life-threatening illness a mere six months ago.  The courage and determination Dad summoned to survive inspired all of us, even as the effort to regain strength and fullness of life has left us weary.  We sustain ourselves and each other by gathering for meals and conversation, spirited games of 'Quiddler' and laughter.  The menu changes week to week but camaraderie and abiding love are the constants in this well we draw from with grateful hearts.

Mornings

I wake in the morning and stretch like the cat, allowing my body to catch up with my already wide awake mind.  What is ahead for this glorious autumn day?  Will I be in the studio all day, which means no need for 'full fluff?'  If so, I'll just shower, do my skin care routine and dress in yoga pants and a 'T.'  A day 'out & about' means a coordinated outfit suited to my plans and some time at the vanity table fluffing.  The rituals of ablutions and dressing bring me great joy and I delight in the collections at my vanity and the moments of quiet there, preparing for the work and play of my life.

Stormy Times

We are at the breaking of a summer heat wave, and the storms coming across the Lancaster farmlands have been fierce and beautiful. It feels like the storms crossing the land mimic what my brain has been going through.  I am 8 months post falling from our loft at our home in Maryland and sustaining a concussion.  After evaluation at the Mild Brain Injury Program at Sinai, I've had the benefit of a team of terrific rehabilitation experts, and can see ways I have improved.  Yet, there are days when I'm overwhelmed because I just don't have the cognitive sharpness that I have always relied upon.  The changes are subtle; they are not obvious or logical.  They defy easy explanations or solutions.  It's an invisible change that others don't see as "much of a big deal" but to me and my best friend, Eric, they are huge.  I do things like lock us out of our email with a password change that I just can't recall.  And, surely people who love us don't mean to diminish our situation, but when they say "Oh, I've had that for years - welcome to senior moments." they completely invalidate what is a very real and difficult season in my and Eric's lives.  For today, and tomorrow and the next day I'll keep working on my exercises, and solving brain problems and trust God.